BREAKING NEWS: Federal charges filed in Woonsocket shootout

September 30, 2013

WOONSOCKET â€“ Federal criminal complaints have been filed in U.S. District Court in Providence charging the two men who were allegedly responsible for an armed home invasion at 67 West Park Place on Sept. 12 with multiple federal counts.
Tyronne Seams, 27, of Woonsocket, and David Bunnell, 21, of Franklin, Mass., are charged with one count each of conspiracy, use of a firearm in relation to drug trafficking and while committing a crime of violence, drug trafficking and Hobbs Act robbery in connection with an alleged robbery and shootout in which three people were injured, two from gunshot wounds. Seams is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The charges, lodged in U.S. District Court on Friday, were announced for the first time yesterday. Jim Martin, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha, said Seams and Bunnell are still facing criminal charges lodged against them by the Woonsocket police in the state courts. Itâ€™s unclear whether state prosecutors will drop those charges, giving federal authorities sole jurisdiction over the case, however.
In addition, a third person is facing state charges in connection with the bloody shootout. Detective Jamie Paone, spokeswoman for the Woonsocket police, said Keinan J. McKenna, 21, is charged with two counts of possession with cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of a stolen firearm during the commission of a crime.
Police said McKenna leased the apartment in which the shootout took place. Because the investigation was ongoing, however, Paone declined to say whether McKenna was home during the gunplay or if he was one of the three people injured in the incident.
The only victim identified so far was Seams. Police said he was injured by gunfire and found bleeding in the apartment. Another man was located later at an unidentified hospital. An affidavit on file in federal court says he had gone to 67 West Park Place to buy marijuana, was prevented from leaving and later got caught in the crossfire. He managed to escape later and drive himself to the hospital, despite having suffered wounds from "four handgun rounds and one or more rounds fired from a shotgun," according to the affidavit of Special Agent Joseph Robitaille of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A third suffered blunt force trauma to the head after being pistol-whipped by one of the intruders.
No date has been set for an initial appearance of Seams or Bunnell in federal court.
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